PilotBound

PilotBound estimate · West Memphis, AR · Checked September 8, 2026

What flight training at First Team Pilot Training costs

Website firstteampilottraining.com

Conveniently located near

  • Memphis
  • Collierville
  • Germantown
  • Somerville, TN

Section 1Cost estimate

Your plan

Estimate cost to reach

Flying

The rate quoted against the Private and the CFI. The fleet is four Cherokee 140s, a Cherokee 160 and three Cherokee 180s.

PilotBound estimate · Private

Examiner data

Cost of your Private at First Team Pilot Training

$18,959

range $16.3K – $21.6K · about 6 months at 2×/week

Priced on First Team's published rates: Piper Cherokee at $182/hr + $60/hr instruction, checked September 8, 2026.

Against a minimums quote

at the FAA legal minimums$11,575
at the hours students actually take$18,959

+$7,384 on First Team's own rates. Quotes usually price the 40-hour minimum; almost nobody finishes there.

Where it goes

$16.3K – $21.6K
Aircraft rental$13,104
Instruction$3,480
One-time costs$2,375
Aircraft + instruction$16,584
72 hrs in Piper Cherokee @ $182/hr + 58 dual @ $60/hr

One-time fees ($2,375)

  • Knowledge (written) test$175
  • Checkride / DPE fee$800
  • Medical certificate$150
  • Headset$700
  • Ground school / test prep$300
  • Books, charts & supplies$250
Hours at a steady pace72 hrs

Examiner records (DPE dataset).

The hourly flying is priced on First Team Pilot Training's published rates. About $2,375 of this is one-time fees (written test, examiner/DPE checkride, medical, gear), typical national estimates, not First Team Pilot Training's prices, and several are set by third parties.

Estimates use PilotBound's own completion-hours model, examiner-completion data where it exists and FAA minimums where it does not, applied to each school's published rates. They are PilotBound estimates, not the school's quote, and will differ from a school's own figures. Full methodology and sources →

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Section 2The rate card

What First Team publishes

checked September 8, 2026
Piper CherokeeThe rate quoted against the Private and the CFI. The fleet is four Cherokee 140s, a Cherokee 160 and three Cherokee 180s.$182/hr fuel basis not stated
Technically advanced aircraftQuoted only against the Commercial, which requires TAA time.$185/hr fuel basis not stated
Bellanca Citabria 7ECA (N68526)1972Tailwheel. Carries no published rate of its own.$182/hr fuel basis not stated
Instruction$60/hr

Airframe built 1972. Years of manufacture from the FAA aircraft registry, read September 16, 2026.

First Team quotes its rates inside per-course cost breakdowns rather than as a rate card, and the aircraft rate changes with the course: $182/hr on the Private and the CFI, $170/hr on the Instrument, and $185/hr for the technically advanced aircraft on the Commercial. Its fleet page names nine aircraft, four Cherokee 140s, a 160, three 180s and a Citabria, and prices none of them, so the tails cannot be matched to the rates. Instruction is a flat $60/hr for flight and ground across every course. Nothing says whether fuel is included. Each course also carries a $325 pilot kit and orientation charge.

The examiner's checkride fee is not on this card: the examiner sets it, not the school. The estimate above includes PilotBound's own figure for it. First Team's site does not state whether its rates include fuel. First Team does not state whether it trains under Part 61 or Part 141, so the estimate above is built on Part 61 hours.

See the published rates →Source 2 →

Section 3Discovery flight

$150

Checked September 14, 2026

30 minutes. An hour is $200.

Book on their site

Discovery flight prices in Arkansas

Section 4Paying for it

Two ways to cover $18,959.

Win what you can first, then borrow only what is left. Neither figure assumes anything about you: one is what our scholarship directory holds, the other is what the lenders publish.

Money you keepScholarships you could apply for46 open to anyone. Top awards reach $22,200.No Arkansas-only awards in the directory yet.
46
Money you pay backLenders that cover $18,959All six lenders in our comparison lend this much. That is whether a loan this size is on offer, not whether you would be approved.
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Section 5Add to my plan

Turn this into a plan.

Your $18,959 is the starting line. Turn it into a route to your checkride, every step in order with this cost built in.

Add to my plan

Section 6What to ask

What to ask when you call

The marked ones are what First Team's site never answers. The rest are what turns an hourly rate into a real bill.

  1. Do the published aircraft rates include fuel, or is fuel billed separately?Missing from their site

    The site does not say, and it is the difference between two rates that look identical and are not.

  2. What gets billed on top of the hourly rates, and roughly how much per hour does it add?

    The site notes extras beyond the hourly figures. Ask for the all-in number per hour, not the base rate.

  3. Does the instructor rate change for the Instrument, Commercial, or CFI, or is it flat across everything?

    Plenty of schools charge more for advanced instruction. A flat rate quoted for the Private can climb later.

  4. Do you train under Part 61 or Part 141?Missing from their site

    It changes the minimum hours, and for some students it changes financing eligibility.

  5. Do you offer block rates or prepay discounts, and what is the refund policy if I stop partway?

    Block discounts are common and rarely published. The refund terms matter more than the discount.

  6. What do you charge for the written test, the checkride, and the examiner's fee?

    The DPE fee alone runs $800 to $1,200 in most of the country and is almost never in a quoted hourly rate.

  7. How many trainers and how many full-time instructors do you have right now?

    Availability decides your pace, and pace decides your total more than the hourly rate does.

Section 7Questions

How much does it cost to get a private pilot license at First Team Pilot Training?
First Team Pilot Training publishes $182 per hour for the Piper Cherokee and $60 per hour for instruction on it, checked September 8, 2026. Applied to those published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate at about $18,959, in a range of $16,300 to $21,600. That covers roughly 72 hours of flying and instruction plus the one-time fees most quotes leave out, including the written test, the examiner's checkride fee, a medical, and study materials. It is a PilotBound estimate built on the school's published rates, not a quote from First Team Pilot Training.
How long does it take to get a private pilot license at First Team Pilot Training?
Flying twice a week, PilotBound estimates about 6 months at First Team Pilot Training to reach the private pilot checkride, at roughly 72 hours. Pace is the single biggest variable: flying once a week typically stretches the timeline and raises the total, because time between lessons gets spent re-learning. Weather, aircraft availability, and instructor turnover all push the same direction.
Is First Team Pilot Training a Part 61 or Part 141 flight school?
First Team Pilot Training does not state on its own website whether it trains under Part 61 or Part 141, so we do not list one. It is worth asking directly before you enroll: Part 141 follows an FAA-approved syllabus and is generally what VA benefits require, while Part 61 is more flexible on scheduling.
Do First Team Pilot Training's aircraft rates include fuel?
First Team Pilot Training publishes $182 per hour for the Piper Cherokee, a rate that does not say whether fuel is included. Ask before you budget: if the rate turns out to be dry, fuel adds roughly $30 to $60 per hour on top. PilotBound's estimate uses the rate exactly as published. Rates checked September 8, 2026.
What ratings can you train for at First Team Pilot Training?
First Team Pilot Training trains Private Pilot, Instrument Rating, Commercial Pilot and Flight Instructor. Instruction is $60 per hour across the ratings it teaches. PilotBound's estimator on this page prices any of these paths on First Team Pilot Training's own published rates.

Section 8Sources

Estimates use First Team Pilot Training's published Piper Cherokee and instructor rates (checked September 8, 2026), shown in USD for planning only. Real cost varies by student, weather, and pace. A range, not a quote.

PilotBound is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by First Team Pilot Training. School names are used only to identify the school. Estimates use PilotBound's own completion-hours model, examiner-completion data where it exists and FAA minimums where it does not, applied to each school's published rates. They are PilotBound estimates, not the school's quote, and will differ from a school's own figures. Disclaimer & removal policy.

Are you First Team? Every figure here is yours, shown with its source and date.

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